


Nothing Else Can Save Me

by Defcon



Series: S.O.S. [1]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: M/M, Pre-Slash, gen - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-24
Updated: 2016-01-24
Packaged: 2018-05-15 20:39:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5799160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Defcon/pseuds/Defcon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cisco and Barry are settling in for a night of Chinese food and video games when an unexpected guest interrupts their plans.</p><p>Or,</p><p>Leonard Snart is going about his business when a text from Cisco leads him to believe something terrible has happened to Barry.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nothing Else Can Save Me

**Author's Note:**

> Just a short vignette based on a fun idea. It's been a while since I've written fiction, so this was also an excuse to stretch some lapsed writing muscles.
> 
> Title from ABBA.

Cisco was tipped back in his chair, lowering chow mein into his open mouth, when the intruder alarm blared throughout the Cortex.

“Who-- what--?” he pulled up the cctv feeds, but all the exterior camera showed was a parked sedan with the driver’s side door still open.

He rolled his chair to the far end of the console, hand over the button that would bring down the Actually Serious Defensive Reinforcements, when Leonard Snart strode in.

He was wearing a nice suit with a scarf looped around his neck, and he looked agitated. To say the least.

“Cisco, what’s going on?!”

The younger man was so startled by Captain Cold’s abrupt (and fancy) appearance, that it took him a second to realize he shouldn’t have been the one getting the third-degree.

“Cold, are you serious?! I was about to deploy the S.T.A.R. Labs equivalent of sharks with laser beams on their heads! You have ways to contact us now-- you can’t just burst in!”

Probably the wrong thing to say, since Snart's response was to stalk closer, grab him by the front of his shirt and growl, “Where is everybody? What happened to Barry?”

As if summoned, the speedster charged in and skidded to a halt in the middle of the room, holding the two liter of Zesti Cola that Cisco had sent him to the store to fetch.

“My watch told me the alarms were going off!”

Barry looked like he was about to speed to Cisco’s rescue, but Snart had let the scientist go as soon as Barry arrived.

“Barry. How nice to see you looking absolutely fine.” Snart brushed some imaginary dirt off the front of Cisco’s shirt, then adjusted his own cuffs.

“Was this some sort of prank? Some ploy to get my attention?”

Barry turned a confused expression on Cisco, but it was clear neither of them knew what had brought Captain Cold to S.T.A.R. Labs.

Snart heaved a sigh, reached into one of the concealed pockets in his suit jacket, and pulled out a phone (and a pair of thick-rimmed glasses, which he put on).

He tapped at the screen a few times, scrolled a bit, then nodded as though satisfied with what he’d found.

“Ten minutes ago Cisco texted me ‘Barry SOS’. I assumed that things must have been truly dire if you’d gotten all the way down your emergency contact list to little old me.”

“No. That's not--!” Cisco snatched the phone out of Snart’s hand, “I texted _Barry_ the message ‘SOS’ ten minutes ago because I got to a mission in Battlefront that I couldn’t finish and I knew he’d already cleared it.”

Understanding dawned suddenly.

“Ohhhh my god.”

Cisco quickly pulled up the contact list on his own phone.

“Yup. That’s the issue right there.”

He held up the display so Snart could see as Barry walked behind the thief to peer curiously over his shoulder (which, Cisco noted, tensed minutely).

“See, Barry is the only contact in my phone under ‘B’. And I’ve got you in here as ‘Captain Cold,’ making you the first entry under ‘C’,” Cisco was going to get whiplash looking between Snart, his phone, and Barry, waiting for them to get it.

“I was holding the controller in my dominant hand,” he wiggled the fingers on his right hand, “And awkwardly holding my phone with my left. So I voice texted you. I must’ve told my phone to ‘Text Barry SOS’ without realizing that your name had been selected.”

Snart pinched the bridge of his nose, and Barry started to grin. Cisco shot him Frowny Brows, but that just made his friend start laughing.

“Glad you find this amusing, kid.”

“It’s not that,” Barry was actually holding his hands up in a placating gesture.

“It’s the fact that you got a message saying I was in trouble and you actually came to help. Like, within 10 minutes. How many traffic laws did you break?”

“Well I was at church, so... Must've been _divine intervention_.”

“You go to church?!” Cisco was a little offended-- science might have been his higher authority, but his uncle was a pastor and Cisco had fond memories of Sunday School (mostly involving post-service snacks and Bible Story Jeopardy).

Snart just rolled his eyes and grabbed his phone back from Cisco.

“I’m a thief, a murderer and a homosexual, so no, I do not ‘go to church.’ I went to church this evening because it’s Grandpa Snart’s birthday.”

“Oh,” Cisco snerked, “So you just abandoned your grandpa at church.”

Snart turned a flat look on him and intoned, “Grandpa Snart's been dead for twenty years.”

If Cisco thought his and Barry’s stricken expressions would inspire some show of actual pathos from the older man, he was sorely disappointed by the short bark of laughter and honest-to-god knee slap.

“Oh, you do-gooder kids are just too much. I think I'll leave on this note; would love to say it’s been fun, but mostly it’s been weird.”

 

\-----

 

As he exited the room, Leonard reminded himself to keep his face neutral for the cameras. Ten long strides to the side door; another three to his car. Just keep the anxiety and relief and frustration inside for 13-- 12-- 11--

“Snart!”

Perfect. He took a breath, then turned on his heel to watch Barry jog the last few feet toward him.

“I appreciate the invite, really, but I’ve got two left thumbs when it comes to video games.”

Barry smiled self-consciously and started rubbing at his collarbone.

“Actually, I just wanted to say that, uh... about three weeks ago? Cisco and Caitlin and Kendra and I were having lunch together after you guys got back from one of your missions. To Paris? In the ‘30s?”  
  
Leonard couldn't quite stop the alarm from reaching his face before he blanked his expression and nodded.

“Kendra mentioned that you got hurt.”

The splint had just come off a couple of days ago, but the night terrors still felt fresh every time. Not that the kid needed to know that.

He forced himself to sound bored: “Is this charming anecdote coming to a point, Barry?”

“When she told us that, it’s possible that I excused myself to go to the bathroom, but then actually ran to every one of your known hideouts until I determined that you were safe and recovering with Lisa.”

“No one is safe with Lisa when there’s a Vanderpump marathon on.”

Barry gave a small, frustrated huff, “Len.”

Leonard raised an eyebrow at him because ‘ _Nicknames?_ ’, but eventually caved: “I’m fine, kid. Tore my ACL, bruised my pride. I’ve had worse.”

Barry was actually reaching a hand out, like he was going to grab Len’s shoulder or something, before he seemed to realize who he was talking to and let it drop. He cleared his throat and took a step back.

“Glad to hear it. Sorry to keep you, I just thought I should put us on an even playing field. You know, in terms of accidentally clueing the other one in to the fact that we sort of care about their well-being.”

Barry was walking backward, waving goodbye, but Len couldn't stand not to at least try for the last word.

“Delete my number from Cisco’s phone.”

The kid hummed a laugh, “I could be persuaded to do that.”

“In exchange for...?”

Barry looked him up and down before saying, “Wear that suit to your next heist.”

He had this mischievous glint in his eye, full of promise, but then he dashed at speed back to the Cortex.

Len put his hands in his pockets and smirked. Maybe this hadn’t been such a waste of time after all.


End file.
